Konoha Gakuen: Test Questions
by The Edgy Bubble
Summary: KakaSaku, set in the Konoha Gakuen universe... A normal day at school turns into a sort of beginning between a teacher and student after an 'awkward encounter', who both see a different side of each other....
1. Situational Irony

**Konoha Gakuen: Test Questions...**

**Introduction:** Well, this is my fourth story, but my second KakaSaku fic (my other one, 'Growing Pangs' is still being updated [up to the 40th Chapter now… o-o…]), but this isn't a second attempt on the same circumstances. This fic will be dealing with the same couple, but will be based in the (Japanese) High School setting introduced in the mini-episode of 'Shippu! Konoha Gakuen Den', where Kakashi is a high school teacher and Sakura is a high school student.

…

**And a note to any 'Growing Pangs' readers, keep an eye out for any 'GP' references or parallels (which I put in here to pay respect to my original work)**

…

**But enough of all this… please enjoy the story! ^_^**

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!!

* * *

...

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**Question 1:**

'_What is situational irony?'_

……

...

I stared out of the window, the courtyard of the school below seemed too far away.

I slumped over my desk a little, the morning sun caught my pink hair.

_School really shouldn't start this early. How can they expect us to learn anything when we're still asleep?_

"Come on, just give him the note already!" I heard Ino's voice order with an excited whisper over to Hinata, who was blushing furiously behind a single piece of folded paper, shaking her head nervously.

"If you don't want to then I'll pass it to him now." Ino leaned over to Hinata, who was sitting in to desk to her right, reaching for the piece of paper. I watched from Ino's left as the lavender-eyed girl quickly ducked the paper out of Ino's reach. She peeked out of the corner of her eye towards the 'him' of this conversation, Uzumaki Naruto.

He was leaning back in his chair, his feet on his desk, his book flat on his face. Anybody could hear his snoring.

He was the new transfer-student who's recently made a big splash in our usually peaceful high school.

He's the first student to break so many of our school's strict rules in such a short time.

First it was all of his shouting and yelling about wanting to become the greatest souban in Japan, then he started to pick fights with anyone who seemed tough enough to take it… including Tenten… and now he's even going after Uchiha-kun.

… he was really kind of annoying…

But for whatever reason, Hinata seemed to really like him.

She must've seen something we didn't or something…

"Why don't you hand it to him after schools over, in the shoe-locker room?" I talked passed Ino to Hinata, leaning out of my seat a little.

"…Um…okay." She nodded slowly, smiling a little.

"Aw, but I wanted to see what was going to happen." Ino pouted to herself. "Nothing ever happens in this place…. And no matter how much I flirt with Sasuke-kun, he always ditches me to go hang out with Orochimaruko and Kabuko…" She whined quietly as she slumped back in her chair, looking to the front of the classroom, visibly dejected.

I smiled a little apologetically at her… it must've been tough for her that the one guy she liked would rather spend time with the rumored transvestites than with her…

"What about you Sakura? Is there anyone you like?" Her mood suddenly improved with the hope of more gossip.

My smile faltered…

…

… I didn't have anyone I liked… not anymore.

I used to like Sasuke-kun, but… things didn't really go well after middle school graduation.

"Well, I-" I was interrupted from finishing my boring answer…

"Yamanaka-san. Haruno." A casual, adult voice called our names with only a trace of firmness.

Both Ino and I whipped our heads toward the source of the voice.

Our homeroom and History teacher, Hatake Kakashi-sensei.

He lowered his textbook from his masked face as he stopped his chalk mid-stroke.

I got a sudden shiver for a moment.

I didn't know if it was the way he said my last name… or if it was the fact that when I turned to him, my eyes met his… whatever it was, I definitely knew he was the reason why my heart was beating a little weirdly.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei."

"I'm sorry, Hatake-sensei." We both apologized half-heartedly at the same time. He lowered his book completely, like he still wasn't going to resume his lecture.

I was probably the only one that called him that.

…'_Hatake-sensei'…_

He would always tell us to call him by his first name. Back when he used to teach at our middle school he told us that our class would have to get used to him since he'd be transferring over to the high school section of Konoha Gakuen the same year we'd enter our second year of high school, and so he let our class call him 'Kakashi-sensei'… but somewhere along the line I –  
His voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Is there any gossip I'm missing out on?" His voice suddenly sounded completely playful and casual.

I looked back to his face, or what I could see of it, he was smiling his usual charming, carefree smile that he always used when he was joking around with us.

The others laughed. Ino rolled her eyes. But I couldn't really react when I found myself staring at him for a moment too long.

He was always that kind of teacher.

He could be serious, and a little scary, at least when we were too loud or if our test scores went down, but he could also be fun sometimes.

"Ne, sensei!" I heard the voice of the girl who sat behind me call out to him perkily just as he was about to continue writing on the board. "Are you gonna be going to the conference after school?" She asked the entire question using that high-pitched voice.

I heard a sudden flutter of giggles erupt from the girls who sat around her.

_What's going on?_

I looked up to the front of the class. He was looking at the girls behind me, but, just for a moment… it was like he was looking at me.

My heart thuded strangely again…

I suddenly saw his expression falter a little.

And even though he was wearing that same old mask, I knew his smile wasn't real anymore… After all these years it was normal that it would be easier to tell when he was faking a smile…. Right?

… At least I think that was normal.

"Uh, yes." He responded after a long moment, his voice barely audible over the talking in the classroom and chorus of girls either giggling or whispering, which had just gotten so much louder after he said those 1 ½ words.

Hatake-sensei was always really popular in middle school, but now, in high school,… he was popular for different reasons.

Reasons we didn't even think about when we were younger.

Ever since the girls in my class discovered boys weren't only cooty-infested trouble-makers Hatake-sensei has become one of their biggest interests… so it wasn't new to hear giggling from the group that sat behind me whenever one of them talked to Hatake-sensei… but they seemed especially energetic today.

"He's so hot." I didn't catch who said that, but it was an almost painfully appropriate way to prove my thoughts right.

"Alright, alright everyone." He spoke up immediately, trying to calm everyone down and break up the little conversations that had spread across the class.

A part of me wondered whether he heard what these girls were giggling about. They were pretty loud.

I looked up to his face again.

He definitely looked a little bothered. He must not have liked _that_ sort of attention from his students…

I looked back down to the textbook on my desk, not really reading… I just scanned the page absent-mindedly, listening to him...

I didn't really notice till the end of the hour that I couldn't remember any of his words.

Only his voice.

…

… I was probably gonna fail the next test.

……………………

The day moved on sluggishly. Even lunch seemed a little slow, that was until I overheard an interesting conversation that would change my high school life whether I wanted it changed or not.

…

"So are you gonna wait till everyone else is gone, then give it to him?" Ino was beating the dead gossip-horse of Hinata's confession letter once again as we ate.

Ino must really be bored with the lack of romantic drama at this school.

"You going to the conference?"

A familiar, faceless, high-pitched voice squeaked from across the classroom with a gossipy tone.

"Eh, why?" A clueless voice answered the first question with another.

I found myself waiting for the answer, too.

This sounded kind of interesting.

I had wondered why everybody was making a big deal about this 'conference' thing… well, only a select group of girls were making it a big deal, but it was still a little intriguing.

The squeaky voice started up again, I didn't notice how quiet my own table had gotten.

"Well, I heard from the upperclassmen that since this is the first meeting of the year, all of the teachers have to attend…" She was building up to something…

"And they have to dress formally." She finished with an epic drop in her voice.

…

I was still lost.

And so was the owner of the clueless voice. "That's it?…" She asked, voicing my own thoughts.

It didn't take a second till the first voice was already talking again.

"If Kakashi-sensei has to dress formally…" She edged slowly. "…then that mask has to come off, too."

Then it clicked.

Why the girls were extra giggly, why they asked Hatake-sensei if he was going to the meeting, and why most of them had opted out of their after-school cleaning duty.

"…I'm going with you guys!" The clueless voice had converted to the giggly side.

I turned back to my table, Ino already had that dangerous glint in her eye.

She had heard, too.

I immediately felt like changing to the subject, but it was too late.

"So that's what everybody is so excited about." She graded, eyeing the giggling band of girls who always ate around the front row of the classroom (near the teacher's desk)…

"I guess so." I acted more blasé than I actually felt.

She set down her chopsticks with a determined look.

"I think we should go, too."

There was no matter of 'I think'… when Ino was set on something like this, there wasn't any going back.

But I really couldn't go. I had cleaning duty, and so did Ino, but I bit the inside of my cheek, and decided to let her have her fun till she figured out the schedule-collision.

"Wh-Why?" Hinata always got a little stutter-y when Ino acted like this. "Do you li-like Kakashi-sensei, too?"

My stomach jumped a little.

I didn't know if it was the surprise that Hinata would ask that question, or the idea of Ino liking Hatake-sensei… or something else.

"Pfft, of course not." She immediately shot down Hinata's question without much tact. "But pretty guys are pretty guys… and I heard that sensei is actually really handsome."

The knot in my stomach tightened further.

Again, I had no idea why.

I knew about these rumors, I had heard them all the time… but it was the way she was talking about Hatake-sensei… something about this bugged me…

……………………..........

"Sakura!"

I turned around quickly, careful not to drop the dustpan I just picked up with shock.

I saw Ino and Hinata waiting by the sliding door as my other classmates noisily filed out of the room.

It had only been a few seconds since the bell rung and everybody was already leaving.

And when I saw Ino's face, I already knew I was gonna be the only one left behind to do the cleaning.

She was gonna go to that conference, drag everyone she could lay her hands on with her, and they would all gawk at an unmasked Hatake-sensei while I was here… picking up trash and sweeping.

"What?" I called back to her as I walked over, pretending like I didn't know what she was planning.

"Come with us!" She was already half-out the door, other girls tugging at her, needing her haughty leadership for morale.

"You're going, too?" I asked over to Hinata, who seemed rather displaced from the frenzy of hormone-ridden girls.

"No, I'm going to the shoe-lockers… See you guys tomorrow." She trailed off quietly.

Her hand tightened around a little pink envelope.

"Good luck." I said lastly before she started walking her own way, stumbling a little.

I almost smiled for her, until Ino's voice came back.

"Come on!" She waved for me.

"Sorry, but I'm on cleaning duty." My apology definitely didn't sound anything like one. "And you are too." I reminded her pointedly.

"Just forget about it for today!" She was out of the door now.

"If I don't do it, then you all will get in trouble." I offered the logic of this situation, feeling like I was talking to middle-schoolers.

She only took a moment before giving up entirely too easily.

"Then I'll tell you everything tomorrow!" She yelled as she was suddenly being swept away down the hall by the wave of giggly girls who were all pink-cheeked and bright-faced.

The 'wave' passed as they all started down the stairs, their excited chattering echoing away quietly.

I walked back into the classroom.

_Tell me 'everything'?  
It's a man's face… not a festival.  
__  
_I thought to myself sarcastically as I noticed that I was suddenly left completely alone, the classroom quiet and still dirty.

_But still… a part of me really wanted to go with them._I had always kind of wanted to know what Hatake-sensei looked like.

But he _always_ wore that mask.

It was a little strange… Well, probably more than 'a little strange', but after you get used to seeing him every day for years with a mask on. It's not hard to forget about it.

...

For years people have kept saying that he had to wear it because of the same sickness that made his hair turn silver. But I never found out if that was true or not.

...

I pulled at the hair-ribbon on my head, loosening it. I really didn't want it sliding or falling off while cleaning. I put it on the desk.

I picked up a rag and dragged it along the chalkboard tray, wiping the excess chalk-powder.

_He must have some sort of reason for wearing that mask. It can't be comfortable, and it definitely couldn't help when he's giving lectures or when he has to talk for a long time._

_I wonder what it must feel like for him._

…

_I wish I could've seen his face… _

…

_He must be really handsome._

There was suddenly a little cloud of white puffing from the ground. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts I hadn't realized that I had reached the end of the chalkboard tray, and had just pushed the months worth of chalk-powder to the floor.

"Great." I applauded myself for successfully adding several more minutes to my lonesome cleaning time before getting the spray bottle and paper towels.

...  
_  
Maybe I can go and see Hatake-sensei next year…_

* * *

He finally managed to escape.

And not a moment too soon, either.

He had been barely out of the door when he saw the stampede of his more flippant female students piling into the lecture hall just as he was leaving.

He had barely been able to shake off Anko-san, who kept bothering him about taking off his mask… after that, he didn't really want to know what those girls were going to say the next day in class if he had let them see him maskless.

He sighed as he turn the corner, climbing the stairs hurriedly, pulling at his dress jacket a little.

_So much drama for a Monday_…

He couldn't remember when this all started.

When the girls in his class grew up and started looking at him with those eyes… those _eyes_!

His brows furrowed seriously.

The eyes a young girl gets every time she develops some sort of ill-placed fascination/obsession with him. Like their undressing him… or at least unmasking him.

He could deal with it before… but now that he was dealing with high-schoolers. They're a lot harder to avoid, and they _know_ when you talk down to them.

He didn't know if the mask made it better or worse.

Did they like the mystery more, or his face?

_It doesn't matter… I just need to deal with them as civilly as possible…  
Even if that means I have to run away._

He reached the second floor hallway, he walked quickly through the abandoned hall.

He pulled at his jacket some more.

He really didn't like formal clothes, even if everyone always said he looked good in them, he didn't like wearing them.

His pace picked up when he saw the door he had been looking for. His homeroom.

He was pretty sure his plan worked.

He had set up a few of the more obsessive girls as well as Ino in the cleaning crew today, knowing she'd probably lead all of the other, more behaved, helpers with her to the conference... leaving the classroom empty.

While he was leaving the lecture hall, he saw Ino walking in, at the head of the front.

_I just need to get changed and go home… _

He began tugging off the jacket before opening the door.

* * *

I continued to wipe up the pesky powder that never seemed to stick to the rag, it would only move around and bunch up into little hills.

It was to the point that I was on my knees spraying chemicals on the powder just to wet it and get it to stick to the rag.

That finally started to do the trick.

I smiled at the pile of chalk with a champion's grin, proud of myself… till I heard the door slide open loudly followed by a quick _thwack_ when it closed again.

I jumped a little. I hadn't seen anyone coming.

I was behind the teacher's desk, kneeling down… I couldn't see who it was.

For a moment I thought it was Ino or somebody else from the cleaning crew who had suddenly grown a guilty conscious and came back to help me.

But the way the door-opener didn't call out for me, or even walk around looking for me, made me double-think about who it might've been.

I heard loud footsteps, not loud because they were angry… but they were heavier than a girl's, more widely spaced like whoever it was had longer legs. It sounded like an adult's footsteps.

My mind flipped through the list of adults that would be walking in here.

My stomach curled over and froze, along with the rest of my body, when I didn't need to think about who it could've been as a dress jacket suddenly landed on the top of the desk I was knelt behind.

_Hatake-sensei…_

I sat there for a moment.

_What do I do? _

_He doesn't know I'm here, does he?_

_Should I just stand up?_

_Should I say something?_

_That's a little awkward._

I found myself creeping over to the edge of the desk peeking over the top slowly… just to check that I wasn't jumping to conclusions. After all, all the teachers had to dress up formally… it might not have been Hatake-sensei.

As my eyes rose above the desktop, they landed on the only other person in the room.

It _was_ him.

He was on the other side of the desk but closer to the door, facing the chalkboard…. He didn't even see me.

He was completely distracted by something else.

His tie was already loosened and hanging over his shoulders as a single line of fabric.

My eyes landed on his fast-moving hands… which were hurriedly undoing the buttons of his dress shirt.

My stomach did another cartwheel.

_Why is he undressing?!!!_

I was in complete shock, unable to look away…

I could feel my face heat up a little as he turned towards my direction absentmindedly, undoing the last few buttons. The fabric hung loose over his surprisingly detailed muscles.

_Why am I here?!_

_Why can't I say anything?!_

_Why am I so nervous?!_

I could see his chest now. I blinked.

He slipped the shirt over his bare shoulders quickly.

_I should really do something.  
_I tried telling myself.

He leaned over to the desk for a moment, rummaging through his clothes, I guessed.

I couldn't really look away from his chest.

But I was harshly reminded of the urgency of this situation when I saw his hands fall past his chest, closing around the buckle of his belt, his fingers causing the metal to clink a little as he started unbuckling.

And in a mere moment, I was no longer sitting behind the desk, out of view… but was standing completely straight.

…

His hands stopped undoing his belt.

His eyes found mine.

I couldn't think.

I should say something.

Anything.

"Haruno?…"

His voice found my ears…

Despite my slow reaction skills, I still noticed something different about his voice.

It wasn't muffled.

My eyes searched for his mask… it was hanging limply from one of his ears.

My eyes found his face, his nose, his lips.

This time both my heart and stomach jumped.

This was too much.

"What are yo-" I cut his strangely smooth voice off.

I immediately squeezed my eyes closed and bowed deeply, feeling my face fire up.

"Excuseme!" I made one word out of two and quickly started to pick up my feet, grabbing a little frantically at my bag.

I was already on the other side of the desk before I opened my eyes again, but I could only look at my feet as I almost ran out of the classroom, opening and closing the door as quickly as humanly possible.

I broke into a run, going down the hallway as quickly as I could before I grabbed onto the corner to the stairs and hid behind the wall, stopping altogether to catch my breath.

I tried to calm down.

I tried to slow my heart, to unknot my stomach, but nothing worked.

Every time I tried to think I could only see him.

His chest.

His face.

I had only focused on his features for a moment… I could barely remember anything.

But I saw him.

He saw me.

And I _blushed_!!!!

* * *

…

_Well… that was…._

… _unexpected…_

_I had thought no one would be here._

_And yet, she was here, taking responsibility for the others… and I…._

_I…._

He was somewhat at loss as he slowly started to button his shirt, having already changed pants.

_She seemed completely… embarrassed._

_And I was the one who was half-naked._

At that thought he could feel something like embarrassment threaten him.

He cleared his throat and shut his eyes.

_I should probably apologize to her._

_For… something._

He couldn't really think of anything to apologize for… what had happened was only a mistake. Though, of course, he shouldn't have been undressing in the classroom like that… then again, it's not as if he thought or planned on any of his students being with him when he did…

… But… as an adult, he should at least say something to ease her embarrassment…

_That's if she doesn't avoid me._

_Besides, it would be difficult to talk with her privately for a moment without furthering her awkwardness.  
_He pointed that out to himself a little wryly.

He picked up his dress suit, folding the pants and shirt.

He picked up the jacket, about to place it with the rest of his things, until a slender piece of peach fabric slipped out.

A hair ribbon.

He immediately recognized it.

_Perfect...  
_He thanked whatever power offered this instantaneous excuse to see her again, to apologize.

He hurriedly slipped on his shoes and nearly jogged out of the classroom, the ribbon in hand.

* * *

After I calmed down -or at least as much as I could under the recent circumstances- I made my way to the entrance of the school, ready to go home and forget what just happened.

I mean, it wasn't horrible…

… seeing Hatake-sensei like that…

… really, it wasn't…

But the way it happened, the way I was just snooping, the way I ran out of there blushing and flustered as if I was one of the other giggly fangirl-students.

_That_ was embarrassing.

I tightened my clutch on my bag tensely as I walked into the shoe-locker room, descending the step towards the cubbies of shoes.

I was about to kick off my slippers with probably more force than was necessary until I heard a small voice.

"Sakura?"

Hinata was waiting by the entrance, the pink envelope tight in her hands, a little wrinkled.

Her light lavender eyes didn't seem at all as determined as before.

She was probably having second thoughts already.

"Hinata." I called back to her, forgetting my shoes and going up to her. "You haven't given him the note, yet?" I asked unnecessarily…

"H-he hasn't come by." She explained, eyeing the opposite entryway nervously, as if the yellow-haired boy was about to walk through it at any moment.

"Do you still want to give him the note?" I double-checked, not paying much attention to the entryway, myself.

She nodded slowly.

"But… I'm just… I don't know what I'd do if he…" She trailed off.

She must've been really anxious about this.

I took a deep breath, trying to lose all the frustration and awkwardness I had housed only a few minutes ago.

Right now, Hinata needed help… this wasn't about me.

"Hinata…" I started kindly. "I doubt he'll really understand what your note will mean when you give it to him." I put it bluntly. She cringed a little. "_But_ that doesn't mean you shouldn't try." I added.

Courage seemed to flow back into her eyes for a moment.

But she still needed another push.

I took another deep breath. Holding my bag a little too securely.

"Sure, Ino and I don't think much of him, and we also say that you can probably do a lot better…" I ranted a little, I stopped myself from going too far and crushing her confidence. "But… it doesn't matter what we think, what we say, or how nervous you are. As long as you really have these feelings for him... then you can't give up." These words weren't planned… I had no idea I was going to say them till the moment before I did.

This was really what I believed… but it's not like I had much experience in romantic relationships…

I tried to wash my mind of that before offering my last piece of advice.

"Giving up before you even try is worse than anything." I finished… my heart feeling a little heavy.

But Hinata's seemed a bit lighter.

"Really?"She asked me as if she was making sure I wasn't joking around.

She held the envelope closer to herself.

"Well… that's what _I_ believe, at least." I assured her the best I could, feeling a little inadequate of a love-adviser… but happy to see her smile again.

* * *

He peeked around the corner or the staircase silently, a peach ribbon curled around his hand.

…

He knew he should've known better than to eavesdrop on two of his students… especially on one who had just recently had a very awkward moment with him.

But when he heard the subject, he knew he couldn't just go barging into their young and delicate love lives.

So he waited... and couldn't help but hear…

…

_"Giving up before you even try is worse than anything."_

...

Listening to Haruno… he learned something about her he never knew before.

… She definitely had a talent for expression and, though he didn't suspect it before, she had a passionate spirit… but it were her words that struck him.

He was almost sure she was reciting a poet or novelist… but those were actually her own…

He couldn't really believe it at first…

...

…That was a sort of wisdom that millions of adults would've begged for in their younger days…

...

If they had known and believed in what she just said… a lot of empty lives would've been filled.

His brow creased a little at the thought.

He tried not to think too deeply of his own past… especially when he suddenly noticed a change in the girls' tone.

* * *

"Here he comes!" She suddenly whispered urgently to me.

I guess her shifty eye movements came in handy, cause I was completely caught off guard by his sudden entrance.

I quickly spun around the opposite entrance way, hiding behind the wall, by the darker spot of the stairs.

I couldn't really leave since I actually had to change my shoes and leave after all this was done, but I definitely couldn't be visibly present when she hands him that letter. i just needed to hide for a few minutes...

But in only a matter of seconds, she pulled it off.

That Naruto boy had only given her a second glance before he was about to leave, his bag over his shoulder, acting cool.... But she went up, bowed hurriedly, and handed him the letter with two oustretched arms.

He took it, looked at it for a few seconds.

Then, to my surprise, I think he actually understood what she was doing.

He took a moment, huffed a little... then....

"Do you wanna walk with me?" He asked ineloquently, but none-the-less as kindly as I had ever heard him say anything.

"Uh-uh…" She stuttered, turning bright beet-red.

_Say it!_  
I willed with my thoughts, hoping she wouldn't faint or run away.

"Yes! Thank you!" She finally answered loudly, visibly nervous and flustered… but completely happy.

She quickly scrambled to her shoes, slipped them on and ran to him.

She glanced over her shoulder for a moment, probably trying to say 'bye' to me in an indiscreet way…

....and then they were gone.

Off to go start their own memories together.

...

I let go of a deep breath I didn't know I had been holding. I loosened my grip on my bag, feeling a little relieved for some reason. I was about to take another step before I heard a voice.

One that was so completely familiar not only because of its deep and casual tone, but for its muffled quality.

"What an unexpected pair…" His tone seemed to grade the potential couple that just left.

"Eh?…" I turned around quickly, not really reacting to what he said, but more to the fact that he was here… _had_ been here…

His voice interrupted any of my thoughts as he walked out to where I could see him.

"What you told her…" He took a few more steps toward me, I noticed the fact that he was changed into his casual clothes again.

…_So that's why he was undressing_…

Unwittingly, that realization brought back the blurry memory of the bare-chested, unmasked version of the man standing in front of me.

I tried my best to control the heat filling my face.

I had to say something.

I had to apologize…

"Hatake-sensei…" I started.

"It was true." The tone of his voice was suddenly really serious and hushed.

My attentionfinally translated from myself to him.

I couldn't really piece together what he just said. I missed it… he just said something important and I missed it because I was too busy thinking about seeing him undress…

I cringed at the way that sounded in my head.

I looked back up to his face… even though his mask was on again I could kind of remember what he had looked like…

But before I could organize my thoughts, I saw a flash of peach reach out towards me.

He was holding out my ribbon.

The hair ribbon I left in the classroom.

"You forgot this…" He offered it smoothly.

I looked at it for a silent moment.

"Uh-thank you, Hatake-sensei." I finally thanked him.

I hurriedly grabbed it from his hand, not wanting to seem rude by having him hold it for any moment longer.

His fingers grazed the inside of my palm.

Electricity seemed to invigorate the nerve-endings in my hand.

…That was new….

…

Completely confused, and unable to really think, I turned around… about ready to go to my shoe-cubby, grab my shoes and leave.

But his voice stopped me before I was more than a single step away.

I wondered why I actually felt happy that he stopped me from walking away for a moment...

"Sakura."

The common reflex of hearing one's name and having to turn around forced me to look him in the eyes, but it was the very recently acquired reflex of hearing _him_ say my name that made my heart pound.

And hearing him call my first name was definitely a lot different than before…

….

His obsidian eyes didn't move from mine as he slipped down his mask a few inches.

"It's Kakashi…"

I actually saw his lips move when he said that... I heard his voice as soft as it really was...

…

He smiled a smile I hadn't seen him give anyone else before.

And so I couldn't control my own idiotic smile when I saw it.

…

I didn't know why… but I felt like this was important.

Like I would never forget this.

I wondered why.

…

_Kakashi…_

* * *

**….**

**….**

**….**

**….**

**….**

**The updates for this one won't be very regular (since I have 3 other stories I'm trying to update), so I'll be updating this one only whenever I have extra free time (which might only be once in a while)… but this definitely isn't the end.**

**There's so much fun to be had in this universe.**

**:D**

**….**


	2. Passing Notes

**Chapter 2!**

**Title: '**_Passing Notes'_

**Note****: My favorite answer to last chapter's test question:**

"**Situational Irony: Being caught in the same place, at the same time, with your teacher in a really unexpected situation. XD"**

**Thank you Clearheart!**

**Diclaimer: I own nothing**

**… … … … … … …**

….

_Question: "When is it ever appropriate to pass notes?"_

….

**… … … … ... ... ... ...**

As soon as the graded test slid onto my desk and I saw the blank backside of the paper I literally felt every thump of my heartbeat as it picked up pace.

Of course I was worried about my grade… but I had never cared this much about a test before. Not to the point where I actually felt something like an adrenaline rush the moment before I saw the grade.

I wasn't even sure why I cared so much, even if it was more than just a test this time…

_I still shouldn't be this nervous over something like this anyways._

I reached out to the foreboding paper about to flip it over and reveal the mystery grade, hoping to find something that might relieve this feeling, I looked up for a spare moment only to meet his gaze from halfway across the classroom.

Again, my heart went ballistic as my eyes darted back to the paper in front of me just before he was about to smile… you could never trust a teacher's smile. They were fake half the time… even if his seemed a little brighter than usual. (I couldn't see his smile behind the mask and hadn't ever before last week, but his eyes reminded me of the one time I _did _get to see it), I still shouldn't trust it.

But I wanted to.

I felt like I should.

The sudden hiccup in the beating of my heart woke me from that thought and directed my attention to the sheet in my hands.

_How did something so normal as looking at a test grade ever get so dramatic?_

… … … … …. ... .. .. ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

**1 Week Earlier **

… … … … … …... ... ... ... .. ... .. ... ... ... ...

'_I shouldn't have done that.' _He thought to himself as he heard the door close behind him, walking into the parking lot.

He had followed her with the single intention of returning her peach headband, and maybe to clear up some of the embarrassment, not to eavesdrop on her like that.

He really shouldn't have treated her so casually after... that.

But… upon hearing what she had said to Hyuuga. After seeing that expression on her face, the sort of careful wisdom … he couldn't help himself.

He laughed at himself a little wryly for a moment shaking his head in gentle disbelief as he slid the key into the car door.

"I even took off my mask…"

He couldn't really think of why… other than he wanted to.

But that thought was even more confusing.

… … … … ….

The corners of his lips lifted a few centimeters.

"It's Kakashi…"

His unusually clear voice echoed in my mind.

All I could hear was that voice, which sounded different than before.

All I could see was that smile, which I had never seen before.

BUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Suddenly yanked back to reality from my dreams, my arms and legs flailed around ungracefully until one of them smacked my alarm clock off my bedside table, shutting it up.

I was suffering from my own invention of a conniption fit not only because my alarm had surprised me, though that was part of it, but I was mostly freaking out because of the dream it had woken me from.

"Woah!" I nearly fell onto the cold hardwood floor of my room.

I found my balance on the edge of my bed and forced myself to calm down.

_What was that about?_

_Why was I dreaming about what happened yesterday?_

… _I'm just… nervous about it… or something._

My eyes unconsciously searched my room as I tried thinking through any other excuses for that dream; instead, I found a problem.

'_7:18'_ My alarm clock told me.

_What?_

I smacked the little plastic rectangle around a little, hoping the hour number would change or something.

But no such luck, the 8 only turned into a 9 with a pitiful little _clip_.

I must've pressed the snooze button seven times or something!

I threw it back at the table, it bounced off and hit the floor, I would've picked it up but I was too busy making use of all of the 10 minutes I had till I had to leave in order to get to school before I was late.

… … …

A frantic bike ride later I wandered into the classroom as quietly as possible.

I managed to get here just a few minutes before the bell was going to ring.

I silently slinked through the chattering groups.

I tried not to attract attention from any loud people, or especially from the silver-haired man behind the desk in the front of the room, who I had been careful not to look at just in case… the same man I was having a dream about less than a hour ago.

I made my way to Ino and Hinata who seemed to be deep in conversation (or as deep a conversation could get between such polar opposites).

After a few more seconds of my silent ninja-footsteps I managed to reach my two best friends free of attention, until-

"Sakura!" Ino shouted as soon as she turned and saw me next to her. It was ironic that I had thought that my own friends would've been a haven from attention… it was my fault for forgetting Ino's loud nature.

"You're finally here!"

_Why'd she have to yell like that when I was right 'here'?_

My internal complaining didn't help the fact that half the classroom was staring at me.

"Hey! Why didn't you tell me you saw it!" She shouted almost louder.

My mind did a flip.

_Eh?_

'_Saw it'?_

…

_Did she know?_

_Did she find out that while she and all the other girls stampeded to the lecture hall, I was the one who actually saw Hatake…Kakashi-sensei's face?_

I fixed his name in my mind, remembering what he told me yesterday for the second time today…

'_It's 'Kakashi'…'_

With that memory my eyes seemed to unconsciously look for him.

He was still behind his desk, still looking through papers…

He looked normal. Normal black pants, normal dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, normal red pattern-less tie, normal high-reaching silver hair,… normal mask.

That was a little surprising for some reason.

It's not like I expected him to look any different than usual, or to go around without a mask or anything… But my opinion of him had changed more than a little since yesterday -since he talked to me like that- that it was strange to see him the same as usual when I definitely didn't think of him the same as usual.

He looked uninterested in anything that wasn't on his desk, as if he didn't just hear Ino shout my name, or what Ino asked… as if everything was _normal_…

I guess that was good.

….right?...

I couldn't think about how strangely that made me feel when Ino suddenly spoke up again.

"Why didn't you tell me that you got to see Hinata give Naruto the note?"

Hinata whined a little about Ino's volume.

Ino only shot down her complaints by pointing out Naruto wasn't around. Hinata seemed more worried about the whole class finding out that she liked the one guy who seemed to piss everybody off.

While they were exchanging those few words I had to hurdle over the shock and simultaneous relief when I realized that she wasn't talking about what I thought she was.

Ino immediately ignored Hinata after a few seconds, looking back to me.

"You know how much I wanted to see how it was gonna turn out!" she complained.

"Oh... sorry, I forgot." I answered truthfully…

"Well, whatever, then I won't tell you what Kakashi-sensei's face looks like." She flicked her hair haughtily.

"What?"I asked with a short syllable before that voice came crashing into my ears.

"Alright, settle down… Take your seats." He announced as _normally_ as ever.

I glanced at his mask for a moment and then to Ino, who was dutifully taking her seat.

I checked the faces of the other girls in the class who were with her yesterday on their adventure to the Lecture Hall.

_Did they really get to see his face?_

_Wouldn't they be freaking out right now? Giggling or talking about how handsome he was?_

…_. I mean… everybody always says he has to be handsome, it wasn't my personal opinion or anything… _I corrected myself a little firmly.

"Hey, did you guys hear why Kakashi-sensei had to leave the conference early?" One of the usual giggly voices asked to another voice behind me. I wouldn't pay attention to their conversations, which were never that interesting to me to begin with, but when I heard his name I couldn't help but overhear. And now I was struggling between curiosity and confusion.

_So he did leave early… _

Ino was probably just making it up to get on my nerves…

…

_But why did it work?_

My mind couldn't focus on that weird thought for more than a moment when I heard the voices again.

"Why?" The other one sounded even gigglier.

"He had to go meet his girlfriend."

…

"Eh!" One of the girls got a little too loud, interrupting Hatake-sensei as he was telling us about how much the field trip was going to cost.

"He doesn't really have a girlfriend, right?" Another voice joined in.

"I hope not! That would be really annoying…" One of them said with a bit more hostility than was necessary.

I didn't pay attention to them after that, losing myself in my own bussing thoughts.

_So… he was on his way to go meet his girlfriend._

_I didn't know Hatake-sensei would have a girlfriend…_

_It just seems weird thinking about Hatake-sensei on a date… holding some woman's hand… smiling and laughing like a real person with some they like… or love._

_But I guess he's a normal person, too… he can fall in love._

My heart stuttered strangely for a moment when I thought that. I pushed it to the back of my mind.

I straightened my posture, looked towards the front of the class, and tried to wipe the entire issue from my mind, and adopted my usual student-frame-of-mind.

I tried to pay attention to class. I tried to listen to what Hatake-sensei was saying and not how strange his voice sounded compared to the way I heard his voice so clearly yesterday.

_When he didn't have that mask on, he really sounds different._

'_It's Kakashi…'_

I lost myself again, not even realizing when the voice in my memories blurred into the muffled teaching a lesson I wasn't learning right now.

"It was around this time in the Edo period when rounin were persecuted for…"

I had no idea I had been staring at him until he suddenly turned around to the class, talking, his eyes meeting mine. I almost looked away, but couldn't at the last moment.

His eyes almost met mine as they travelled across the classroom, but right before we made eye contact, his gaze shifted to the girls behind me.

That's when I knew something was definitely up.

He _never_ looked at the girls behind me. Doing so was just inviting trouble, soon enough they'll start giggling and raising their hands to start asking pointless, frivolous questions that only ever seem to annoy Hatake-sensei. Those girls, known as the 'Crush Corp' by myself and Ino, were the more militaristic Hatake-sensei-fans.

"Hey, sensei." One of the Crush Corp started the race early. "What kind of sweets do you like?" The others giggled. I could feel the waves of hormones and misplaced teenage lust radiate from the group behind me. It always made me feel a little grossed out.

But I couldn't care about that.

I was mostly worried about the fact that he'd rather make eye contact with his pesky fan club than with me.

… something was really weird about this…

"I don't like sweets… And please don't ask personal questions during a lecture, again." He responded with a politely firm voice.

The girls complained amongst themselves about how they were going to have to think of a new type of present to give Hatake-sensei on Valentines or his birthday. I drowned them out as I usually did.

And as soon as he started talking about history again, a horrible explanation of his avoiding eye-contact came to mind:

_Maybe he thinks I'm just some sort of closet-case Crush Corp recruit!_

_Maybe he thinks that I was just waiting behind that desk, peeking at him because I'm actually some sort of obsessive student?_

_There's got to be a way to fix this… _

…

But what _can I do?_

I'll have to explain myself.

But I can't just raise my hand and apologize or something in the middle of class.

I could try to talk to him after class, but the Crush Corp would swarm, as they usually did whenever any single female (student and teacher alike) attempted to talk to Hatake-sensei one-on-one.

… So… if I can't talk to him during class or after, then how was I going to fix all of this!

During lunch?... no, that wouldn't work.

After school hours?... no, that's a little too private for such a predictably awkward conversation.

I've never tried to make a point to talk with Hatake-sensei before this.

It was a little surprising to realize just how distant we were. You'd think that after four years of him as my teacher, we'd have some sort of closeness. But looking back at it… we've only ever talked, briefly, about homework or grades or attendance, or maybe a class activity.

Then again, what other types of conversations were you supposed to have with your teacher?

I wasn't like the Crush Corp. girls who'd flitter all around him whenever they could, begging for attention the same way pets beg for treats.

… But, forgetting all that, I had to prepare myself for a particular uncommon and awkward conversation: "Hi, I'm sorry for practically peeping on you as you undressed, sensei."

I nearly smacked my head on my desk with the sheer force in which the weirdness and awkward guilt of that thought hit me with.

That head-smacking urge came back as soon as I heard Hatake-sensei's voice shift from lecture-gear to announcement-gear.

"Now here's a quiz based on everything I just said.": He announced in his trademark 'playful' voice he used whenever he was playing a sort of joke on us. This time it was because he knew that most of us weren't paying attention to him.

I might not have been paying attention to him, but I was still thinking about him… that should earn me some credit, right?

I didn't think any further on that when a sudden epiphany struck me as the quiz paper landed on my desk.

…... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

He placed another quiz onto the finished pile on his dimly lit desk in his apartment, right across the bed he was seated on. He was currently somewhat disturbed by the amount of negative checks he had to give each paper.

"These kids have no attention span… its gotten worse with age." He complained to himself pointlessly, knowing full-well how convinced teenagers are that they shouldn't be bothered with studying or reading when they had personal drama in their lives. He was one of them once…

He ran his hand through his hair tiredly, wondering if he should just grade the rest of the pop quizzes tomorrow, and save himself the mind-numbing disappointment.

Before making his decision he picked up the next quiz blindly, hoping it was a promising student. He read the messy name:

'Uzimaki Naruto'

He didn't read the quiz seriously (knowing better than that) but scanned over it, when his eyes landed on the little drawing of a caped stick figure kicking another spike-haired stickman in the lower region as the answer, Kakashi lost a significant amount of faith in the purpose of his lectures.

But a moment later, he found himself pausing all of his previous thoughts and complaints, gaining a sense of motivation to continue grading for at least one more paper.

'Haruno Sakura'

The name was written pleasantly in the top right corner.

He read through the paper.

. . .

An even larger chip was chiseled off the block of his faith in his class.

_She had always been such a reliable student before…_

He sighed, closing his eyes tiredly, the pen still in his hand as he rubbed the back of his aching neck.

_Maybe her mind was someplace else today._

It only took him a moment before he could even think of one place her mind probably was.

He opened his eyes with the thought.

_Was she thinking about…?..._

A flash of her beet-red face right before she bowed and ran out of the classroom invaded his mind before he could stop it.

_Probably._

He couldn't control another sigh.

Even after he went as far as to limit contact with her today, too.

It hadn't been his original plan… to avoid her like that… but after he left her yesterday, after speaking so personally with her, even showing her his face… he knew he shouldn't have.

She was still probably processing that awkward situation, and there he was, talking to her on such a new level. Like equals.

_She must've been overwhelmed. _He thought to himself the day before. _I should probably limit contact with her… _

Now, nearly 24 hours later, he was still thinking about it.

_This has definitely turned into something too complicated…_

He proceeded to mark the regrettably numerous wrong answers.

He reached the bottom of the page, about ready to drop it onto the finished pile like the ones before it, click his pen, turn off the lamp, and settle down for some much-needed sleep… but he saw something.

A little arrow etched rather boldly on the bottom left corner of her paper.

Following its simple instructions he flipped the paper over.

There he saw a single line of simple characters that didn't take more than a moment to read.

'_I'm sorry about what happened yesterday…'_

He set down the paper quietly after rereading the little ineloquent message for the third time. A soft sound erupted from his chest, a gentle chuckle that grew and evolved into genuine laughter that seemed to liven up the dark room.

Suddenly, he felt his mood improve, washed clean of the disappointment and boredom.

He smiled at the paper for a second longer before making his final decision to pick it up again, and not to just put the low grade on it.

… … … … … ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..

Yesterday had gone by just like always except for the avoiding glance of Hatake-sensei and a bit of easily reconcilable drama with Ino, who confessed that she really hadn't actually seen sensei's face after some interrogation.

As I was getting ready for school today, and especially when I walked into the classroom, I couldn't forget what she has said after that:

"_Well, I didn't really see his face, he sort of disappeared right after we walked in."_

"_Oh…." I responded quietly feeling a little fidgety with the subject._

I didn't know why I didn't tell her about the fact that I knew where Hatake-sensei disappeared to. I knew what it was like to his face, to see his chest…

Maybe it was because I knew that if a word got out about what happened his fan club would either request a full written report of what I saw, or they would possibly, and more probably, bully me to the point that I'd never want to even make eye-contact with him again.

I wondered if sensei knew what kind of brutal following he had.

"_Any girl that gets to see his face had to be the luckiest girl in the school." Ino rambled, almost sounding like one of the Crush Corp. for a moment._

… '_Luckiest'…_

I hadn't really considered what happened to be 'lucky', at the time I was thinking it was more along the lines of it being a 'humiliating accident'.

But maybe… if he saw the note… things can go back to normal.

My mind flashed to what 'normal' was.

Never talking, never really looking at each other, giving only the occasional nod if we walked passed each other in the hallway, and sometimes he would call on me in class if I was talking too much or had an answer to one of his questions.

….That was better than _this_, right?

Halfway into class I was trying to act like I was paying more attention to the lesson, but I found myself thinking more and more about that note I left on the back of my quiz.

Whether he got it or not.

It seemed like a really stupid thing to worry about. It was only an apology… and probably a childish one at that. If he did read it, he probably laughed at me or something, thinking how much of a little kid I am.

_Why did that bother me so much?_

His voice turned into something like white noise after a while, a soothing undertone to my not-so-soothing thoughts.

_Nothing seemed to have changed._

I guess it was childish to expect any sort of noticeable change in his mood just because I wrote a little apology on the back of a depressing little quiz that he might've not actually read.

_He probably didn't read it._ I thought to myself passively as he set down his textbook and chalk.

I felt even more bothered as my thoughts grew more and more negative.

_Wait… look for the bright side._

_If he didn't read the note, then none of this matters and I'll just have to wait for another opportunity to apologize or wait till everything goes back to normal._

_If he _did_ read the note then maybe things will go back to normal…. but he might think I'm really immature because of how grade-school it is to pass notes. But is 'normal' really such a good thing to go back to? And why do I care whether he thinks I'm mature or not?_

I had no idea what was wrong with me.

All these thoughts bombarded me, each possibility with pros and cons, each seeming more and more important with the more attention I gave them.

_Why was I starting to care so much about this?_

_I was completely calm about this whole thing just a few seconds ago!_

I racked my brain for any reasoning that could explain my weird thought patterns as he pulled a stack of papers out of his leather suitcase.

"Alright, I've graded the quizzes from yesterday."

The entire class groaned in harmony.

"Seems like you guys already know what to expect, so I won't lecture you about paying more attention… hopefully your grades will say more than I could."

He was right about the fact that I already expected what grade I got.

But there was something I definitely _hadn't_ expected when I picked up the graded quiz paper he laid down on my desk.

Beside the bright red 'D+' that was signed above the title of the page was a little arrow.

I was immediately reminded of my own note, which I had left on the back of the paper after leaving a scraggly arrow pointing to the back.

Just as I was about to turn the paper, to follow the textless instructions of that arrow I managed to catch a glance at Hatake-sensei.

He wasn't looking over here or anything, but knowing that he had read my note, and responded in some way that I didn't know yet, it was a little strange looking at him. He didn't seem so… grown up anymore.

Or maybe it was just that it felt more like he was treating more like an equal or something.

Before I could let my thoughts confuse myself any further I looked away from the teacher just as he was turning down grade-negotiations from half of the class and flipped over the paper.

There were three lines of text.

…

'_There's nothing to apologize for, Haruno.'_

Reading that phrase was a little strange since I swore I could hear his voice saying it in my head.

I looked down to the second line a few spaces down.

'_But if you did want to apologize for anything, then you should get higher than a 90 on the next test…'_

I felt whatever elevation my heart had been feeling while reading those words suddenly give way as he sounded like the teacher I had known for years again through that written mini-lecture.

But the last line caught my attention.

'…_Only 'if', of course."_

I almost smiled.

I had no idea why, but that was actually…kind of… 'cool'?

I set the quiz flat on my desk, folding my arms over it as he started lecturing the whole class on how they should pay more attention… I wasn't really paying attention.

I glanced down to his handwriting every few seconds, rereading his notes.

Each time I did I felt more and more determined to get higher than a 90 on the next test.

Then again, ignoring him in class as he was giving lectures wasn't something I needed to be doing if I wanted to get that A.

I tucked the quiz into my back, trying to focus… but even then I couldn't help but think back to it.

I had thought that by leaving that little note for him, things would've gone 'back to normal'.

…

It didn't feel like things were 'normal' again.

But I wasn't hating the way things turned out.

I kind of enjoyed this feeling.

The feeling that I had _some_ sort of connection with Hatake-sensei.

Even if it was only because he left a 'cool' note on my quiz or because I saw his face or because he had called me by my first name or because I accidentally saw him undress a little or because of the fact that whenever he scanned the classroom, searching our faces for any sort of response from what he was saying. my heart would beat faster than normal. Even if this 'connection' or whatever was based off of tiny things that had only happened over the past few days… it was kind of… interesting.

It was like Hatake-sensei was more than just a man that would talk at us for hours, give us homework, and send us home again… I was just starting to realize that he had a personality.

That sounded really weird. But after sitting here day after day for years, he had somehow become a part of the scenery in my life, playing his part everyday and never causing much impact on my life.

But right now, as I thought over his words from a few days before and the casual message he had written last night, feeling the gravity around my heart loosen its hold the same way it would whenever I listened to my favorite song or whenever I was next in line for a rollercoaster, I noticed that Hatake-sensei was a bit more than just a part of the scenery in my life now.

He was interesting and real…

I felt a little stupid for that fact that even though I had known him for so long, I was just barely noticing him now.

…..

The ending bell rang with an annoying, but altogether triumphant, tone.

The entire class pick themselves out of their seats and started talking loudly. Boys shouting plans at each other from across the classroom as they grabbed their leather backpacks, the girls flipped out their generic pink cellphones calling their girlfriends from other classes about where they were going after school, other student just ran for the door, eager to get home or get to friends.

Ino and Hinata walked to the front of the classroom, holding their bags as they talked about something I couldn't hear over the voices and shouting.

I patiently buckled my bag, catching a glimpse of the quiz paper just before it disappeared from sight.

Again, my heart felt strange light.

I didn't know what it meant… but it was nice.

"Sakura!" Ino yelled towards me a little impatiently just as I noticed that she and Hinata were waiting by the the door.

I waved at them with a joking 'shoo' motion, telling them I'll catch up in a moment. But before I could keep that nonverbal promise, and just as I was only a few feet from the door I was held back by something.

"Haruno"

That voice. My name.

I froze on the spot.

Ino and Hinata looked over my shoulder towards the teacher's desk with a little confusion and then back to me.

"Uh…" I searched for words as I quickly waved at Ino and Hinata again, telling them politely to go on ahead without me. Hinata calmly left after looking behind me, but Ino's eyes seem to flare with some sort of interest before she left the doorway, too.

I couldn't focus on what that had meant before I turned around.

"Yes, Ha-… Kakashi-sensei?" I asked up, my voice feeling a little caught in my throat as I turned around, my eyes landing on his masked face. I had managed to correct his name a little too late.

I think he was smiling under his mask… but I couldn't really tell.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything." He chuckled slightly at the end of that sentence as he walked behind his desk, keeping his eyes on me.

I didn't realize until then that I must've been making a weird face….

I _did_ feel a little nervous talking to him.

I didn't know whether it was the instinctual worry of talking to him because of the Crush Corp.

Or if it was because I thought he was going to scold me for getting a bad grade on that quiz.

Or if it was for some other reason… maybe the same unknown reason why my heart would beating harder than before whenever my eyes found his.

"Have you given any thought to my challenge?" He asked up just as he filed some folders into a light brown messenger bag.

_Challenge?_

_What challenge?_

I just stood there stupidly for a few seconds before I heard another chuckle. (It was a little rare to hear him laugh even quietly like that… it was nice to hear it, but I didn't appreciate the fact that he thought I was funny.)

"About the next test." He hinted kindly, buckling the flap of the bag into place.

"Oh!… uh…" I struggled to find words. The struggle got harder after he turned back to me, sliding the bag's strap onto his shoulder. But I couldn't really stand _not_ saying anything so I settled for the first sentence I could piece together, "Yeah, I'm going to study more."

I cringed at the ineloquence of the answer.

I took a few steps towards the door, feeling the need to run out of here before I could embarrass myself any further.

"I see." He answered gently as he started heading towards the door, too. "I'm glad."

And with that he walked through the door in front of me, turning back to me with a smile that reminded me a lot of the one I saw a few days ago.

"See you tomorrow, Harurno-san."

And just like that, the moment changed.

Adding that formal suffix.

It didn't fit.

Not just because, as an adult, he didn't need to use such formal speech with a teenager like me… but… it felt like he was trying to create some distance at the last moment.

… I was probably just imagining that…

But I couldn't get it out of my head as I walked home.

Or when I fell asleep studying History that night either.

… … … … … … … ... ... ...

He walked out of the doorway, leaving the pink-haired girl in the classroom.

_'See you tomorrow, Haruno-san.'_

He cringed to himself.

He hadn't planned on using that honorific, but at the last moment... it felt like he wasn't talking to a student anymore.

He had been treating her too casually again.

He had to find that ideal relationship medium that he tried to develop with every student, one between a business relationship and a friendship...

... he didn't know why it seemed a little different this time.

Maybe it was the way she looked at him, or talked... no, maybe it was just him.

_Why did I even call for her just now?  
_That random question nagged him for a few minutes as he left the building.

He had no idea why... he just saw her leaving, talkng with Yamanako and Hyuuga... he just felt like he had to call her attention. He wanted to.

He furrowed his brow with slight confusion before his mind wandered away from the subject to the test that he had to make for next week.

His thoughts found Haruno again as he thought about the test.

_'Yeah, I'm going to study more.' _She had promised with a sort of eager panic as if she couldn't think of anything else to say.

A smile unconsciously pulled at the corner of his lips.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

I took a deep breath, my heart racing as if I was actually in the rollercoaster seat, waiting for the gears to start clanking.

_Just turn over the paper!_  
I finally ordered myself.

The thin paper flipped over harshly, my eyes zeroed in on the grade that was written in bright red about the title of the paper.

'92'

A smile broke across my face. I let out a sigh of relief that turned into something like a laugh.

I never thought I would react so dramatically to a test grade, and a good grade at that, but here I was, making a quiet fool of myself for getting so worked up over this test.

… then again… it was worth the worrying and studying, especially when I saw the elegantly messy handwriting I had seen on hundreds of my quizzes before this scrawled beneath the beautiful number.

'_God job, Haruno._'

Some part of me was happy that he hadn't written some sort of 'san' or 'chan' after my name, but I liked the second line of script a bit more than the first.

'_I'm not sure what your motives were for studying, but just in case I was any kind factor:'_

The third line was my favorite.

'_Thank you.'_

I didn't know why he thanked me.

Was he thanking me for going through the trouble of studying?

Was he thanking me for raising the test score average of the class?

It seemed strange for him to thank me…

I got this grade for him.

… that sounded a little weird… but it was true.

Even if to was embarrassing to admit:

I studied so that I could properly apologize for what happened last week.

I studied because I wanted to be a good student.

I studied because I wanted his praise.

I felt like such a middle-schooler again… but when I looked up from my test, my idiotic smile still plastered on my face, and I found his eyes already looking at me... I didn't care how embarrassing or strange it was.

After a moment he smiled back.

One of those rare, real, smiles.

I still wasn't used to those smiles from him… he would rarely make them, and never before towards me.

But I would spend another week studying just to see it again.

He nodded slightly, and even though the classroom was really loud with banter as student whined over their grades, I swore I could hear him say something as his chin moved up and down. Nobody else seemed to notice, but I definitely recognized his deep, natural, voice in the crowd:

"Thank you, Sakura…"

My heartbeat quickened, suspended in zero-gravity now, as if the rollercoaster I had been waiting on this whole time finally took off.

… … … … … … …

**YAY!**

**Second chapter done!**

**Now for some rest… ^_^**


	3. Visiting Policy

**Chapter 3!**

**Title:** _Visiting?_

**Note:** **YAY! Chapter 3's done! And it wasn't as long of a wait as last time, too!**

**Anyway, my favorite responses (it was really hard to choose since everyone answered correctly!) to the last question:**

'_When is it ever appropriate to pass notes in class?'_

…**were:**

'_When a sensei and student take interest in each other,_

_In a way that goes beyond proper academic protocol,_

_And want to slowly, carefully know each other more.'_

**Clever way of following the original format of the notes, Clearheart!**

**And:**

'_When nobody is looking of course!__'_

**Thank god no one was looking last chapter, right, MnM? xD**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing?**

…

…

….

_Question: "What is the policy on visiting a teacher's home?"_

…..

…

…

"Thank you, Sakura." He said softly, unsure whether or not she could hear him or even tell he was saying anything. He didn't really mind if she didn't. In fact, he knew it would probably be better if she didn't. It was a little too much probably, calling her by her first name. He'd been taught by countless other teachers and handbooks that even though a teacher is supposed to act as if their students are friends, and treat them with that respect in mind in order to gain trust, a teacher was never actually supposed to instigate any type of real friendship. He felt like this moment and the way he was addressing her was pushing against the already fragile boundary of familiar and 'friendly' between him and this student.

He did it anyways.

Without really giving it as much thought as was probably necessary.

It was hard to pay attention to the swarm of students that were complaining about their grades, many of them begging for some sort of curve, which wouldn't actually help them very much since the bar was set rather high by the student with the best score, who was still looking over at him with one of the brightest smiles he'd seen.

His smile grew broader in reaction, secretly.

It was the look in her eyes. The amount of pride and eagerness… the way they were looking at him with something like admiration.

It was almost cut-

That thought was cut short as the train wooshed by only a block away from his apartment noisily, giving him the thousandth 3:24pm weekend wake-up call he's gotten since he's moved into the expensive-looking four-roomer. The only reason he could afford this place on the humble salary of a high school History teacher was the fact it was placed so inconveniently close to the railway.

He wasn't complaining, but sometimes it could get kind of bothersome… like having an irreplaceable alarm clock you couldn't set.

He sat up from his nap, the sheets that had been lazily draped over his chest fell to his lap noiselessly.

He had never been much of a napper before, but spending late nights in the school staff room or at his apartment grading and writing tests could build up quite a sleep-debt.

He gave a little yawn as he rustled his silver hair a little. He threw his feet over the edge of the roomy bed letting them find the wooden floor sleepily.

It wasn't but a few minutes before he was already in the kitchen heating up the hours-old coffee from that morning, looking for any sort of caffeine boost that would help him survive the hours of grading he knew he had ahead of him.

His mind wandered back to the dream he was still recovering from.

_That was… new._

It wasn't unusual to dream about his job, even though it was annoying… but he had never dreamed about a particular moment, and never about a single student before. Usually his dreams of class were blurred messes of stress that usually came up during finals or midterms… he couldn't figure out why h-

Before his thoughts could reach any further into that dream, before the coffee could get any hotter, and before the usual schedule of his weekend could continue a moment longer, something strange interrupted it.

_Knock, knock, knock_

He turned towards the front door, immediately confused. The knocking ended abruptly, the only sound remaining was the sizzling of the coffee burner, the rest of the apartment was silent and still. Before he could wonder whoever it was that caused the knocking sound his mind skipped to the fact that his apartment wasn't quite guest-friendly right now, books on every subject from ancient Japanese literature to contemporary romance novels were open and scattered throughout the rooms, his television was still broken, his worn jeans and T-shirts spread out carelessly on the floor next to his bed, but his slacks and work shirts were hanging neatly in his closet.

The knocking continued for three more raps as he stood there for a moment longer, groggy-minded, still trying to figure out who it could be without going to check.

He wasn't expecting anyone.

He didn't have any nosy neighbors, or any family that could drop by unexpectedly, he could only remember a few times in which his friends would drop by and drag him off to a bar in a surprise celebration over a promotion or a new girlfriend.

But despite his confusion, whatever was making that rapping sound at his door only got impatient.

_Knock, knock, knock, knock!_

Sighing, he quickly grabbed a shirt out of his dresser, also snatching one of his trademark masks, slipping it over his face as if it was as natural as putting the shirt on for guests.

He could hear the coffee start bubbling as he walked back to the door, which was now making louder noises than before.

_Knock! Knock!_

"Just a moment." He called back to the noisy visitor with his usual polite charm that he always used in public, despite rude or impatient people.

He opened the door quickly, feeling more than a little inwardly perturbed over the interruption of his usual Sunday, though not showing it to whoever his impatient visitor was.

But that irritation would only be blurred out by the confusion which increased triplefold when he was met with two familiar faces at his door.

One framed with shoulder-length pink hair.

He wondered if he was still dreaming for a moment.

… but even if he was, this still wouldn't be normal.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**The Day Before**

… … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I retraced the little scratchy arrow on the bottom of the paper for the fifth time, making it a little too bold.  
Not because I had an important message, but more of a way to waste time till I figured out exactly what my message was.

I hesitantly turned the quiz over.

I stared at the blank back a little helplessly, at loss for what I could do.

…

I really wanted to write something. Anything.

But I couldn't bring myself to even think of what to say… there really wasn't _anything_ to say…

… so then why did I want to write something so badly if I didn't _need_ to write something.

Well, I guess I _do_ need something to write now that I've written that little arrow...

…

This little roundabout thought process has been popping up every time I took a quiz lately.

Ever since last week, actually… ever since that test.

'_Thank you, Sakura.'_

I almost smiled at the memory of his voice.

…

Since then, everything's been… normal.

Really normal.

Besides friends and home, which never changed. Everything concerning Hatake-sensei is kind of turning back into what it was before.

That small… 'connection' I guess is the word I used before… is… disappearing.  
For a few days after I got that 92 on the test sometimes I'd accidentally catch eye-contact with him and I'd smile nervously, but he'd repay it with a smile of his own… But that doesn't happen anymore.

We're just like we used to be.

Politely ignoring each other…

Which isn't bad…. I mean, I never felt left out or avoided before over the years he's been our homeroom teacher… but… it's like something's missing now.

So, as I sat there, completely confused by myself again, staring at my paper, I couldn't help but wonder why it seemed so important to rebuild that 'connection'.

It's not like we'd ever had a proper conversation before… but I felt like I was missing something now that everything had gone back to 'normal'.

I tore my eyes away from my quiz paper, and back up to the front of the quiet classroom, which the air of felt tense with anxiety as my other classmates were having a hard time filling in the difficult answers that I was already done with (I'd been studying more often… probably because I feel so self-conscious about my quiz grades now). My eyes wandered the chalkboard before landing on the silver-haired man sitting at his desk, reading some sort of book that had nothing to do with the curriculum (the cover was covered with obnoxiously pink letters that made me think for a spare moment that it was one of those girly love novels… but that probably wasn't it).

…

As soon as I figured out that I had been staring at him read for over two straight minutes I could feel my expression harden as my thoughts seemed to now be blasting through a megaphone in my head.

_I mean… what am I looking for?_

_His praise?_

_His attention?_

_It's not like I'm one of the Crush Corp. and I never, ever, plan on turning into one…_ I cringed at the idea.

I looked back to him just as he turned one of the pages casually, seemingly uninterested in whatever was happening in his book at the moment. He leaned back in his chair holding his book in one hand, the side of his head in the other. My nose unwrinkled from its previous cringe slowly as I forgot that I was staring at him again.  
I noticed that his finger accidentally pushed his mask down a few inches for a moment.  
I was immediately reminded of the few, blurry, memories I had of his face, which then reminded me of the few times we'd spoken, which reminded me of the few notes we'd sent back and forth, which finally reminded me of the few extra heartbeats I suffered when he had thanked me aloud last week with that hidden smile.

He turned the page again, his expression –what I could see of it- softened as if he was reading something sweet. I found myself looking at his eyes, practically mesmerized by the way they held that surprisingly gentle expression. I suddenly wanted to know what he was thinking. I wanted to know his opinions. His thoughts. About anything… I just wanted to know what he was really like.

Who he really was.

_I may not be one of his Crush Corp. fangirls… and I may not know what exactly I think of him…  
…but maybe it would be nice just to be friends with Hatake-sensei…  
_My thoughts rounded off nicely with that pleasant thought as I gently eased my chin to the cold surface of my desk, resting my cheek against my folded arm, unable to look away from him for a moment too long.

My eyes finally left him and fell to my desk… they landed on the white rectangle of my flipped quiz and I nearly shot back up with the memory of what exactly I was planning to do with that paper.  
I had forgotten to think of something to write.  
I picked up my pen a little hastily, thinking through anything I could say, until I was stopped by the recipient of this almost-was message.

"Alright, pens down everyone." His voice seemed to make me nervous lately, but it was worse right now since his voice reminded me of the bell you'd hear at the end of a really long test you hadn't finished yet.

"EH!" Some of the rowdier students complained openly. I thought I would've heard Naruto's voice in there, but after glancing at his paper two desks away I could see doodles and stick figures all over it, but the answer-lines were completely clean.

_I guess he really doesn't care about his grades._

_He won't graduate if he keeps this up._

_Wait! Back to my paper!_  
I immediately reminded myself of the top priority right now, which wasn't looking at the yankee-boy's lack of writing, but my own!

"Pass them up." That man's voice betrayed me in that moment of childish panic.

I whipped my head around nervously, watching as everyone groaned, passing up their papers.

The guy in front of me half-turned, holding out his hand.

My heart dropped as I had no choice but to proceed with the usually awkward exchange of either making the guy in front of me wait till I got the papers from behind me, or to give him my own paper and then bother him again with my predecessors' papers only a moment later.

And in only a few seconds my paper was gone, sent up to the front of the row. It was like I just sent an empty envelope in the mail, or a text message without any text.

I cringed to myself, feeling the need to drop my head down to my desktop again as he went from row to row picking up the papers. But his voice kept me alert.

"These quizzes may not seem important to you guys, but I should warn you all that Vice Principle Shizune-san has requested that whether you participate in the quarterly field trip this month should be decided on the excellence of your scores."

An entire ruckus of disagreement chorused through the classroom.

I was suddenly happy that I'd been studying more lately… but before I could inwardly gloat for too long, a familiar voice took advantage of the unorderly moment of the class and was starting to ask the same bludgeoning questions it had been asking all day:

"Ne, so where are you and Naruto-kun going on your date?" Ino asked again excitedly, losing none of her enthusiasm from this morning.

Hinata only offered the same exact answer, "I-I don't really know." I could barely hear her over the others' yelling and Hatake-sensei's trademark carefree denial of any grade-negotiations.

I almost lost focus when I heard him laugh at someone's especially ill-witted negotiation.

"He said we're meeting at 6:00 tomorrow, at the fountain." The newness of that sentence woke me up from my staring. (Even if it sounded vague, we all knew 'the fountain'. It was the big sculpture fountain at the edge of the park and the main city. It was always an ideal spot for meeting up with friends if we didn't know whether we wanted to hang out in the park or go shopping in the city.)

Hinata had finally spilled what Ino's been bugging her about all day. And so easily… I guess Hinata felt extra flustered with all the loud noises and couldn't hold back the truth for long.

Ino turned and looked at me with a conniving look that I could read in only a few moments: 'We're going, too!'

So… I was pretty much resolved to the fact that tomorrow, at 6:00, Ino, me, and anyone else who she could convince to come along were going to be hunched around the bushes at the edge of the park, spying at the new couple on their first date.

Hinata only fumbled in her seat a little, probably still worrying whether or not she should have told Ino that….

She really shouldn't have.

But soon enough we were called back to attention by our masked History teacher, who was starting a new lecture that would no doubt have another quiz attached to it tomorrow. I couldn't really focus on the dates or names he was talking about or writing on the board… just like always, I only ended up listening to his voice.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … **..**

**5:37pm, The Next Day**

… … … … … … … … … … … … … **..**

_Why are we here?_

_She said 'sensei's place', but this couldn't really be…._

_No, of course not, the Crush Corp. would never tell anyone Hatake-sensei's address. _

_Maybe this is Kurenai-sensei's apart-  
_And before I knew it my eyes met two recently too-familiar obsidian ones at least a foot higher than mine.

He had opened the door with a little force, probably annoyed by Ino's knocking attiquite. She was apparently a firm believer in the 'keep-doing-it-till-the-door-moves'-method.

I forgot why we were here. I forgot what had brought me here.

The longer he was staring me in the eyes like this the farther the memory of my reasons fell.

His eyes flashed away from mine almost instantly, looking over to Ino who took a step forward as if she was about to say something.

My brain suddenly cleared.

Only a dozen minutes ago we had just met up with everyone at the outskirts of the park when Ino grabbed my wrist saying, "We need one more…", as if she was finishing a collection.

She had dragged me the whole way here with only the simple explanation to my several questions about where we were going: 'To sensei's place!', she had answered with an excited tone as if she was telling an inside joke.

Now I knew what 'sensei' she'd meant.

So as we stood here, in this moment, the door barely open for a few awkward nanoseconds, I could only stare dumbly at the silver-haired owner of this apartment, who looked a little disheveled, as if he had just rolled out of bed or something.

He was the first to break the silence, surprising me since I thought Ino would've been talking by now.

"Eh? Yamanako? Sa-Haruno?" I heard him mess up on my name a little, feeling a little put off by the fact that he might've actually recalled someone else's before mine…

He looked down at us in something like shock for a moment until his expression eased into something of a disturbed confusion. "What's this about?" He asked a little bluntly, obviously not up for whatever games Ino planned.

I felt a little guilty for letting her knock on his door like that and disturb him, or at all.

"How cold." Ino suddenly graded his tone for a moment before plastering her fakest smile on her face, the one she always wore around adults in an attempt to charm them… from the unchanged unamusement of Hatake-sensei's expression, it didn't seem to work on him.

"Good afternoon, sensei!" She bellowed with her loudest, most cheerful, voice.

He seemed even less in a good mood.

I found myself unable to speak up.

"What do you need?" He asked up, ignoring her greeting, but correcting his tone to sound perfectly polite and charming in his own way. Somehow I felt like his 'charm', probably because of his years of experience, was more effective.

But I couldn't focus on the way his charming voice resonated in my thoughts a little strangely when I suddenly realized that I didn't even know the answer to his question when I was one of his visitors right now.

"We need a chaperon." Ino stated simply right before she picked up her foot and lunged forward with a giant step then pulling her other foot forward to meet that one, successfully infiltrating the private premises of our History teacher without permission or warning.

"Wha-what?" He stammered for a second when she walked right past him. "Oi, hold on." I heard him call at us as I realized a little too late that her hand had still been securely fastened around my wrist this whole time, leaving me no choice but to stumble across the threshold past him, too.

He rushed ahead, farther into the room a little quickly. It was strange for him to lose his composure like that for a moment. The door slowly closed behind us after a moment now that no one was there to hold it open.

Before Hatake-sensei could take a moment to start whatever lecture he was probably planning about walking into people's apartment without permission or something Ino spoke up.

"A lot of us are getting together to hang out, but my mom says she wants an adult there to look after us." Her voice explained something I hadn't known either, but I couldn't really find interest in it right now.

I was distracted by the room.

If it was possible for a room to be neatly messy, this was it. Everything looked like it was in its spot, but there were still books, glasses, and a few clothes lying around.

"I'm sure between the two of you, you know other adults," His voice didn't even distract me as my eyes wandered the room, still. It was really strange seeing Hatake-sensei's apartment to me. Ino didn't seem at all fazed by anything, but I was endlessly fascinated by this single room that seemed to tell so much about this man that I had wanted to know more about for a little over a week now. The different types of books were interesting, some with serious and dark covers, other with bright and carefree ones, some with tiny Japanese characters, others with more widely-spaced English letters.  
_I didn't know he could read English.  
_I thought to myself, more than a little impressed, thinking back to my poor English grades lately (since I've been studying History a bit more than usual).

I heard Ino's voice retort to Hatake-sensei's words with some sort of little remark that didn't seem important enough to remember a few seconds later as I noticed something else.  
The clothes on the floor... they were jackets and pants I'd never seen Hatake-sensei wear before, I actually wondered for a moment if he had a roommate since it was so odd thinking of Hatake-sensei in jeans or in anything that wasn't business-casual (he was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt right now, but that wasn't really strange since I'd seen him at school sports events [our school usually had some of the more athletic teachers compete in mini-games, too, during the break] dressed like that before). That was when I noticed a single, almost full, bottle on the side-table next to his large, blue couch. It was some type of reddish liquid. Wine.

I was a little surprised. Not because I didn't think Hatake-sensei drinks alcohol, but because I hadn't really thought about that side of Hataake-sensei. The side of him that probably enjoyed those things that only other adults enjoyed. I guess it was because, at school, teachers tend to hide anything about themselves that's different, that sets them apart from the students or something…  
For a spare moment I could actually imagine him lounging on that worn-looking couch, reading some sort of book, drinking wine… enjoying his time off from teaching my class.

I was entirely distracted by my wandering thoughts when the wine bottle I'd been staring at for a few seconds sudden moved, a familiar (but un-cuffed by a dress-shirt) hand picking it up. He walked towards the kitchen, setting the bottle inside a cabinet that was already open.

_I guess he was planning on hiding that from us here, too._

"I believe Gai-sensei should be free today." He said out loud from the kitchen area, as if he was offering Asuma-sensei's chaperon-ing skills without the P.E. teacher's consent.

He must've really didn't want to come with us.

Then again… knowing the craziness that was bound to happen, craziness that only gossip-loving teenagers could probably appreciate, maybe it was best if we just left him alone?

"Sensei. You're going to be the chaperon for our field trip, right?" Ino spoke up, as if she just came up with a plan.

"Yes." He answered plainly as he picked up a few of the articles of clothes off of the floor, tossing them onto the comfy-looking couch before turning back to Ino just as she picked up her voice with confidence.

I could see the slight annoyance in his eyes, which he didn't try to cover up with his usual teacher-smile.

_He was kind of different outside of school.  
_I noticed.  
_More honest… I guess._  
I graded to myself mentally before Ino would carry on the conversation.

"Then you should probably get used to us and our groups before there's a liability for the school if we get in trouble."

"Do you plan on getting in any trouble on the trip?" He asked back, not really fazed by her argument, picking up a pink-covered book just as he finished that question. "Because if you are, please tell me now so we can get it out of the way." He finished smartly.

"Sens-!" I could tell Ino was probably about to resort to whining, she always got really loud just before she resorted to simply annoying what she wanted out of others. It had worked on me when we were kids.

But I knew this wasn't going to go anywhere if she tried that on him.

He'd probably kick us out or something… which he could totally do since we're the ones who barged into his apartment.

I spoke up for the first time since I got here, feeling like I jumped in a little late in the game.

He set a few books down on the counter. He flipped the switch on a coffee-warmer, the sizzling I hadn't noticed before stopped.

"Hatake-sensei." I called his name politely. "Sorry for disturbing you today, but we ju-…" I trailed off without meaning to.

But after I had gotten halfway into that sentence, he had turned around to face me, and I just…

It was hard to think for a moment… and then for another moment… and another.

I had expected him to give me the same annoyed look he paid Ino since I _was _going to try and talk him into giving up some of his weekend for us… but he didn't seem annoyed, or disturbed, or even bothered.

He turned around just now and looked at me as if we were in class. Like that day. The way he looked at me that day, with a sort of subtle… pride? Or was it appreciation?

I didn't know if it was, or if I was just imagining it… but it was enough for me to second guess my words and forget them altogether.

After a moment of silence I heard Ino shift on the spot, huffing impatiently.

I quickly closed my mouth, which had been hanging open for those seconds, I looked back at him. I smiled slightly, hoping to look a little apologetic.

It was all I could think to do to now that words seemed to fail me.

"Ne, sensei!" Ino started up, cutting the moment of my awkward smile short, drawing the attention back to herself and her loud soon-to-be-whining voice. I felt a little stupid for a moment for speaking up without saying anything in the end. "I promise to study a lot more if yo-" She started in with the begging, but… he cut her off.

"Fine… I'll go."

I looked back at him, a little shocked.

His voice had been smoother than before when he actually agreed so easily just now. It didn't sound like he was defeated or troubled, or like he had actually taken her up on her offer for more study-hours from her… but more like he really was okay with going now.

Ino brightened up as she got her way again.

"Thank you, sensei!~" She thanked sweetly, acting as if he had agreed because of her.

"Yeah…" He answered her shortly, his voice back to normal. "Wait here a moment." He walked from the kitchen area to our right, towards an open doorway. I only got to see through it for a moment before he was in the way. I could only see a really big bed and a little bookcase next to it.

It was his room.

My curiosity was ressurected for a moment before I realized that he was probably going in there to change into more public-appropriate clothes.

I was suddenly reminded of the time I'd seen him change clothes before.

If I had been talking right now, I probably would've forgotten how to talk… again.

"Actually, wait outside." He poked back out through the door he had nearly closed behind him. His gestured at the front door behind us pointedly.

"Eh!" Ino complained just as I turned around, taking his orders a little too quickly, more than a little happy to get out of this room with smelled so much like him, and leave behind that embarrassing moment and those embarrassing memories behind.

The air outside was hot but refreshing. The sun was only a few dozen degrees from dusk.

Ino and I looked over the railing of the second story, down at the people who were walking away from the train station only a few blocks away. She had a smug smile that told me she was happy everything was working the way she wanted it to. I just stood there… thinking about that look he gave me.

It was probably just my imagination.

He was probably just as annoyed with me as he was Ino, why wouldn't he be, I probably didn't read his eyes right or something.

A few minutes later I heard keys jingle behind us as the door opened.

I was a little disappointed to turn around to see Hatake-sensei in his usual slacks and white dress-shirt outfit as he was locking his door with one hand. I noticed that he wasn't wearing a tie, which made him look a bit more casual, but I had kind of wanted to see the Hatake-sensei that wore jeans and T-shirts… the same one that lounged around and read, too.

… … … … … … … … … …

He didn't know why he was getting himself into this.

Or why he had even let the thought of agreeing to their request only occur to him when Haruno gave him that look.

She had only smiled with apologetic eyes…

He'd turned down other students with request for higher grades who gave him the same look.

Maybe he felt sorry for her that she'd have to deal with Ino the whole day. Or maybe it was his instinct as a teacher to make sure nothing happened to his students.

They were both reasons why he was currently walking along the outskirts of the park with these two, but neither of those seemed like the _real_ reason.

It felt more like….

More like he only felt like agreeing to go _because_ of Haruno.

Then again, that was a stupid thought.

Idiotic.

Why would a simple look of hers change his mind so easily?

A single smile.

Maybe he had actually wanted to go anyways?

He _had_ been looking for a way out of grading.

_It probably had nothing to do with Haruno.  
_He thought to himself a little firmly.

He glanced at her for a spare moment as he walked a few steps behind them, to their left. He looked away, his hands in his pockets, staring at his shoes as they crunched against the park's gravel pathway.

_Probably._  
…

He only worried for a moment whether this meant he was falling victim to favoritism over one student until a ruckus interrupted his thoughts.

"Kakashi-sensei?" A chorus of young voices called out his name a little too loudly, the confusion in each of them apparent.

He looked up quickly, just in time to see the group of kids whose voices just yelled out come running up to him and the two girls. He was afraid of the stampede for a moment until they stopped just in time.

He recognized almost all of them from his class:

Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Tenten, but two boys came from Class 3, Shikamaru, who had skipped a grade, and Lee who was a year older than the others.

It was strange seeing all them together in a group like this, but he didn't focus on the bizarreness of the situation for long once questions came up.

"What're you doin' here?" Chouji asked up.

"Why's sensei here?" Tenten asked Haruno in the corner of his eye.

Ino, being the hellish leader she was, spoke up with the answers. Even though she was assuming more authority over this situation than he, the adult and teacher, was, he couldn't really feel that bothered.

"My mom wanted a chaperon for us, so I got the coolest one."

He could hear the needless flattery in her voice.

He pretended not to notice.

He raised his hand in a simple, motionless, wave.

"Yoroshiku…" He mumbled lightly, smiling his usual public-smile.

"Eh…" A few of them chorused dejectedly, he could hear the Shikamaru-boy mutter something like "Troublesome…"

The group started sauntering away, following Ino's lead as she quickly distracted them from their complaining-session after she looked at her wristwatch and announced: 'It's almost 6:00!"

He followed after them, slipping his hands back into his pockets apathetically, sighing at the bothersome situation he'd let himself walk into.

And, as if answering his internal complaints, the person who had probably more influence over his decision to come along into this bothersome situation than he'd admit, spoke up from his left.

He hadn't noticed she was still there until now.

"Sorry, Hatake-sensei, Ino can get a little…" Her soft voice trailed off as he turned to her. She apologized for Ino, staying behind from the group as if she had taken the responsibility for all of their slightly rude behavior.

She seemed a little less spirited than usual lately. She had occasionally proven to be a close second to Yamanako's loud nature in previous grades.

He thought back to the whole school year… noticing that that observation was actually not so true anymore. She was calmer lately, didn't act up talk too much in class, her grades have even gone up.  
_She's actually changed a lot over the past year…_  
He thought to himself shortly before picking up the conversation where the pink-haired girl left it only seconds ago.

"I knew what to expect by accepting your and Yamanako's invitation, Haruno… Don't worry." He reassured her with a kind tone. "Go ahead," He nodded towards the group ahead of him without looking, "I'm confident you guys can take care of yourselves. I'm only here to report back to parents" He finished lastly, trying to sound less troubled by this whole thing than he really was. For her.

She smiled up at him a little weakly, but nonetheless genuinely.

He smiled back without thinking.

But that smile disappeared the moment he looked back ahead of him, noticing that the group he had just been talking to had vanished.

"Eh…?" He asked monosyllabically in a moment of confusion.

He didn't know that his blonde-haired tyrant of a student had already led the rambunctious group of teenagers far away from that meeting spot, and was now giggling to herself, "Leaving those two behind was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"What?" Lee turned to look at her as the group slinked behind some bushes, already stalking the blonde boy and his lavender-eyed date as the two walked towards the city.

"Nothing." She answered sweetly.

"Eh… where's Sakura and Kakashi-sensei?" The boy with the bowl-cut asked another question, a little concerned. The rest of the group ignored him, much more intrigued with the conversation between Uzumaki and Hinata.

"They'll catch up eventually." Ino answered again, "But I think they should have some fun, too." She smiled a little deviously to herself, admiring her handiwork.

Lee only gave her a weird look before Shino called for him as they were on the move again.

_This is going to be interesting…  
_She thought to herself, enjoying the success of her plans.

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**Phew! **

**Chapter 4 next!**


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